The United States is great- for some people, that is. But why dwell in the same country your entire life when there are 196 others to check out? My latest research on European countries has crept into an obsession with pursuing a life there after college. Besides the crepes and pizza, there are many benefits to settling and starting a family in Europe.
Some of these everyday factors of European culture that one-up those of the U.S. include work, leisure, finances, diet, and morals. Plus, who doesn’t love a good accent? Here are some convincing reasons as to why settling in Europe is a good choice.
1. Vacation time
In Italy, every working citizen receives eight weeks paid vacation time yearly, compared to a lousy 10 days for the average American.
2. Free tuition
The majority of European countries offer free college tuition- some of these countries are Denmark, France, and Norway.
3. Taxes
The average French person pays just above what the average American pays in taxes. Included in the taxes for the French are healthcare, college, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave, four weeks paid vacation, prescriptions, and funding for the arts- compared to the American basics: police/fire department, water, military, bank bailouts and road upkeep.
4. Healthcare
27 of the 50 European countries provide universal healthcare to their citizens. Enough said.
5. The prison system
In Portugal, drugs are not illegal (a classic U.S. tactic to imprison minorities). In Norway, maximum security officers don't carry weapons (goodbye, police brutality!). The longest possible prison sentence in Norway is 21 years. Norway also has one of the lowest murder rates in the world.
6. Maternity leave
When the time finally comes to start our families in the U.S., the average paid maternity leave is 3 months. This is not by law. Time and salary amount vary by state. In Italy, new mothers receive 5 months, paid 80% of their regular salary by national law. Who doesn't want, or need, two, very well deserved, extra months to get to know their newborn child?
7. School lunch
School lunch: every American student's least favorite meal. Frozen chunks of unrecognizable "food". However, if you decide to raise kids in a European country such as France, the food is truly amazing. A committee of chefs works with government officials and dietitians at even the poorest of French schools to plan a daily menu that always includes fresh cheese and bread, two courses, and sometimes dessert. Here, lunch is an hour long, as compared to the American thirty minutes of seeing who can eat their sloppy joe the fastest.
8. Teaching of the past
In the U.S., schools are not required by law to teach children of our country’s genocidal past. Children from the country built on the backs of slaves and the bloodshed of Native Americans might never know the story of their predecessors.
In Germany, curriculum often includes field trips to concentration camps and education surrounding what it was like to be Jewish during the Holocaust. Germans believe education is the only true way to prevent a repetition of the past. With just this factor of European life alone, you can do what you were born to do as a millennial: raise a "woke" child.
